ZIP Code 93230

Hanford is a city and county seat of Kings County, California, located in the San Joaquin Valley region of the greater Central Valley. The population was 53,967 at the 2010 census. Hanford was once north of Tulare Lake, historically the largest body of fresh water west of the Mississippi River. The area was inhabited by the Tachi Yokuts Indians for several thousand years prior to Euro-American contact. The Southern Pacific Railroad planned to lay tracks towards the developing farmland west of Visalia, spurring a growth in labor and population. In 1903, steel magnate and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie donated $12,500 for the construction of the Hanford Carnegie Library which opened in 1906. In the 1930s, famed pilot Amelia Earhart lived in Hanford to teach flying lessons at Fresno Chandler Airport. The town voted to become "dry" in 1912, eight years before nationwide Prohibition was enacted. The first public high school, Hanford Union High School, was started in 1892 with one teacher, W. S. Cranmer, and an average enrollment of fourteen. The earliest known document labeling the settlement as "Hanford" is an 1876 map of Tularue County which once included the territory of present-day Kings County. In May 1880, a dispute over land titles between settlers and the South Pacific Railroad resulted in a bloody gun battle on a farm 5.6 mi (9.0 km) northwest of Hanford that left seven men dead. This event became famous as the Mussel Slough Tragedy.

History

Hanford was once north of Tulare Lake, historically the largest body of fresh water west of the Mississippi River. The area was inhabited by the Tachi Yokuts Indians for several thousand years prior to Euro-American contact. The Southern Pacific Railroad planned to lay tracks towards the developing farmland west of Visalia, spurring a growth in labor and population. The earliest known document labeling the settlement as "Hanford" is an 1876 map of the territory of present-day Kings County. In 1878, Hanford began running their own newspaper service and wiring called "The Public Good" which fed into other papers. In 1903, steel magnate and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie donated $12,500 for the construction of the Hanford Carnegie Library which opened in 1906 (and is now the Museum of Kings County). In the 1930s, pilot Amelia Earhart lived in Hanford to teach flying lessons at Fresno Chandler Airport. She befriended local resident and student Mary Packwood with whom she gifted a personally-designed dress and left luggage shortly before her disappearance in the Pacific Ocean in 1937. Hanford's namesake was James Madison Hanford, an executive for the company. The original eastwest Southern Pacific railroad branch line is now operated by the San Joaquin Valley Railroad. The first public high school was started in 1892 with one teacher, W. S. Cranmer, and an average enrollment of fourteen. When Kings County was created in 1893 from the western part of Tularce County,Hanford became its county seat.

Geography

Hanford is located in the south-central portion of California's San Joaquin Valley. The city is 249 feet (76 m) above sea level and has a flat terrain. The average annual rainfall over the ten years from 1997/98 through 2006/07 was 8.97 inches (228 mm) The 30-year normal precipitation (1971-2000) is 8.29 inches (211 mm) Hanford's land was once a drainage basin for Tulare Lake. The People's Ditch, an irrigation canal dug in the 1870s, traverses Hanford from north to south. The National Weather Service Forecast Office for the SanJoaquin Valley is in Hanford and includes a Doppler weather radar. Weather forecasts and climatological information for Hanford are available from its official website. The only natural watercourse is Mussel Slough, remnants of which still exist on the city's western edge. The Kings River is about 6.5 miles (10.5 km) north of Hanford. Hanford has a climate typical of the Sanjoaquin Valley floor with hot, dry summers and cool winters characterized by dense Tule fog. The wetter season occurs from November through March, with heavy rainfall in the winter months of November and March. The coldest month of the year is February, with the coldest day of the month of March being February 14, with an average of 3.5 degrees Fahrenheit (0.7 degrees Celsius). Hanford is about 28 miles (45 km) south-southeast of Fresno and 18 miles (29 km) west of Visalia.

Demographics

As of the 2000 census, there were 41,686 people, 13,931 households, and 10,378 families residing in the city. The racial makeup of the city was 64.1% White, 5.0% Black or African American, 1.4% Native American, 2.9% Asian, 0.2% Pacific Islander, 20.8% from other races, and 5.7% from two or more races. The Census reported that 53,068 people (98.3% of the population) lived in households, 283 (0.5%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 616 (1.1%) were institutionalized. There were 18,493 housing units at an average density of 1,114.8 per square mile (430.4/km²), of which 10,208 (58.4%) were owner-occupied, and 7,284 (41.6%) were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 2.4%; the rental vacancy Rate was 4.6%. In the city, the average household size was 3.03; the average family size was3.49.Foreign-born residents accounted for 13.2 per cent of Hanford's population and 28.3 per cent spoke a language other than English at home. The city has a population of 53,967; the population density was 3,253.1 inhabitants per squaremile (1,256.0/ km²).

Economy

Hanford is a major trading center serving the surrounding agricultural area. Most residents of the Hanford-Corcoran Metropolitan Statistical Area were employed in services (31,000 employees), government (14,400 employees) and farming. The heavy industry sector has declined significantly over the past 30 years. The city was impacted by the Great Recession (200709) and employment was also affected by the California drought (201213). The unemployment rate in January 2016 was 10.3%. However, the rate had dropped to 7.9% in February 2020 at the eve of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the United States Census Bureau, median household income in Hanford was $54,767 and 18.3% of the population was living below the poverty line in 2008-2012. Many Hanford residents work for other nearby employers such as NAS Lemoore, the U.S. Navy's largest Master Jet Base located 15.5 mi (24.9 km) WSW of Hanford and for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation which operates three state prisons in Kings County. In August 2017, Faraday Future announced that it had signed a lease for the former Pirelli plant where it plans to manufacture electric vehicles. The company said that it could employ up to 1,300 people over time and build up to 10,000 cars a year. In 2006, the Kings County government with 1,041 employees, the Adventist Health with 857, the Han Ford Elementary School District with 520, the Del Monte Foods tomato cannery with 435 year-round and 1,500 seasonal employees and Marquez Brothers International, Inc., makers of Hispanic cheese and other dairy products.

Arts and culture

The Kings Art Center was opened in 1989 to be the premier visual arts gallery and art training center of Kings County. Hanford Carnegie Museum was built in 1905 as one of the many Carnegie libraries that were funded by the steel industry magnate, Andrew Carnegie. The former Clark Center for Japanese Art and Culture had the mission of collecting, preserving and exhibiting works of fine art, primarily the arts of Japan. The Clark Center closed permanently on June 30, 2015. The art collection was moved to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts and the bonsai collection was transferred to the Shinzen Friendship Garden at Woodward Park in Fresno. Chinese immigrants that arrived in the late 19th century created a thriving Chinatown in Hanford in the neighborhood around China Alley. In July 2011, Hanford city council commissioned a study of China Alley with the hope of revitalizing it. The China Alley Preservation Society is a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving and revitalizing the area. A Moon Festival is held in China Alley in early October. The Renaissance of Kings Cultural Arts Faire is held the first weekend of October at Courthouse Square in the city center. The event typically attracts 15,000 people over the two-day period. The Kings Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1963 and draws musicians from throughout the central and southern San Joaquin Valley. The orchestra generally performs four times a year. The King's District Fair is a traditional county fair held on four days in mid-June at the Kings Fairgrounds. It is also known as the "King's County Fair".

Sports

Hanford Criterium bicycle races are held on downtown streets. Dirt track auto racing takes place at the Kings Speedway from March through October. Hanford is the site of the U.S. Open cycling championship, which is held every year in May. The U.N. Olympic Games is held in Hanford, Washington, in August. The city is the home of the United States Open cycling championships, which are held in August and September. It is also the venue for the Winter Olympics, which takes place in February and March. The Winter Olympics are one of the biggest events in the world, with more than 100,000 people attending each year. The Games are held every four years and cost $1 million to $2 million to run. The Olympic Games are the biggest event of the year, with a total of $1.2 billion in prize money. The games are held at the White House, the Rose Bowl, and the Soldier Field. The White House is also home to the Winter Olympic Games, which take place in March and April. The track is a 3/8-mile semi-banked clay oval and is at the King's Fairgrounds. The race is held under USA Cycling racing rules and permit and is run on downtown Hanford streets. The course is a 0.9-mile (1.4 km) hourglass style loop course. The races take place on a Sunday in late March or early April and are run on streets in the downtown area.

Government

Hanford is incorporated as a general law city under the California Constitution. The city council is made up of five members elected by districts for four-year terms. The mayor and vice mayor are elected annually by the city council from among its members. The current mayor is Libertarian Kalish Morrow following the resignation of mayor Diane Sharp in March 2022. In the state legislature, Hanford is in the 14th State Senate District, which is represented by Democrat Melissa Hurtado, and in the 32nd State Assembly District, represented by Democrats Rudy Salas and David Valadao. Federally, the city is in California's 21st congressional district and is represented in the House of Representatives by Republican David Valarao. In December 2019, theCity Council elected John Draxler as mayor and elected Francisco Ramirez as vice mayor. Mario Cifuentez II was appointed as the city manager in 2019. He is responsible for the overall administrative direction of the city and is the city's chief administrative officer. The City Manager's duties include development and implementation of the annual budget for approval by the City Council. He was appointed by the council in 2019 and is currently in charge of the City of Hanford's budget for the year of 2018-19. The Mayor and Vice Mayor are elected from among the members of the council for four year terms. There are no term limits in effect for the mayor and the vice mayor, but there are term limits for the City Manager and City Council members. Hanford has a population of 4,000.

Education

Hanford has 15 elementary schools, three junior high schools, four high schools with a total of 8,464 Kindergarten through 8th grade students and 3,522 high schoolers. The Hanford Elementary School District provides kindergarten through eighth grade education for most of the city. The College of the Sequoias operates an education center in Hanford as part of the Joint Educational Center that includes Sierra Pacific High School. Brandman University has a Hanford campus for adult students. Hanford has a population of 3.5 million people, according to the 2010 U.S. Census. The city's population was 3.6 million in the 2010 Census. It has an estimated population of 4.7 million people. The population of Hanford in the 2009 Census was 3,788, with a population growth rate of 0.7%. The city has a total population of 8.4 million people (2010 Census). The population growthrate over the past decade has been 0.8%. The population has grown by 1.7 percent since the 2010 census. The growth rate over the last century has been 1.8 percent. The number of people living in the city has increased by 2.1 percent. It is the largest city in Washington state, with 4.1 million people living there in the 2013 Census. the city's growth rate was 0.9 percent. the growth rate in the 1990s was 1.2 percent the same as the previous decade. the population grew by 0.6 percent in the decade.

Transportation

The Hanford Municipal Airport serves general aviation and has a 5,175 feet (1,577 m) paved runway. Amtrak provides passenger rail service from Hanford station to the San Francisco Bay Area and Sacramento, and service to Southern California by a combination of rail and bus. California High-Speed Rail has proposed a station on the eastern outskirts of Hanford. The proposed station is listed as "optional" and will not be built without matching local funds or in-kind support. KART operates regularly scheduled fixed route bus service, vanpool service for commuters and Dial-A-Ride (demand response) services throughout Kings County as well as to Fresno. Hanford is also served by Orange Belt Stages. The Hanford area is home to the Hanford High School football team, which was founded in the 1950s. The school is one of the oldest in the state, having been founded in 1855. It is located on the banks of the San Joaquin River, which flows into the San Franciso River. The town has a population of about 3,000 people, with the majority living in the eastern part of the town. The city is located in the Kings County area, which is also home to a large number of college football teams, including the University of California, San Francisco and Fresno State. It also has a small percentage of residents who live in the northern part of Kings County, which includes the cities of Fresno and Kingsville. The community has a history of being heavily affected by the Great Depression and the Great Recession.

Air Quality, Water Quality, Superfund Sites & UV Index

The Air Quality index is in Hanford, Kings County, California = 6. These Air Quality index is based on annual reports from the EPA. Higher values are better (100=best). The number of ozone alert days is used as an indicator of air quality, as are the amounts of seven pollutants including particulates, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, lead, and volatile organic chemicals. The Water Quality Index is 1. A measure of the quality of an area’s water supply as rated by the EPA. Higher values are better (100=best). The EPA has a complex method of measuring the watershed quality, using 15 indicators such as pollutants, turbidity, sediments, and toxic discharges. The Superfund Sites Index is 99. Higher is better (100=best). Based upon the number and impact of EPA Superfund pollution sites in the county, including spending on the cleanup efforts. The UV Index in Hanford = 5.5 and is a measure of an area's exposure to the sun's ultraviolet rays. This is most often a combination of sunny weather, altitude, and latitude. The UV Index has been defined by the WHO (www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/radiation-the-ultraviolet-(uv)-index) and is uniform worldwide.

Employed

The most recent city population of 3,007 individuals with a median age of 31 age the population grows by 20.28% in Hanford, Kings County, California population since 2000 and are distributed over a density of 3,315.69 residents per square mile of area (1,280.23/km²). There are average 3.01 people per household in the 16,300 households with an average household income of $49,326 a year. The unemployment rate in Alabama is 13.60% of the available work force and has dropped -3.01% over the most recent 12-month period and the projected change in job supply over the next decade based on migration patterns, economic growth, and other factors will increase by 20.38%. The number of physicians in Hanford per 100,000 population = 80.8.

Weather

The annual rainfall in Hanford = 8.2 inches and the annual snowfall = 0 inches. The annual number of days with measurable precipitation (over .01 inch) = 38. The average number of days per year that are predominantly sunny = 266. 97 degrees Fahrenheit is the average daily high temperature for the month of July and 35.6 degrees Fahrenheit is the average daily low temperature for the month of January. The Comfort Index (higher=better) is 51, where higher values mean a more pleasant climate. The Comfort Index measure recognizes that humidity by itself isn't the problem. (Have you noticed nobody ever complains about the weather being 'cold and humid?) It's in the summertime that we notice the humidity the most, when it's hot and muggy. Our Comfort Index uses a combination of afternoon summer temperature and humidity to closely predict the effect that the humidity will have on people.

Median Home Cost

The percentage of housing units in Hanford, Kings County, California which are owned by the occupant = 56.07%. A housing unit is a house, apartment, mobile home, or room occupied as separate living quarters. The average age of homes = 25 years with median home cost = $155,920 and home appreciation of -21.40%. This is the value of the years most recent home sales data. Its important to note that this is not the average (or arithmetic mean). The median home price is the middle value when you arrange all the sales prices of homes from lowest to highest. This is a better indicator than the average, because the median is not changed as much by a few unusually high or low values. The property tax rate of $8.34 shown here is the rate per $1,000 of home value. If for simplification for example the tax rate is $14.00 and the home value is $250,000, the property tax would be $14.00 x ($250,000/1000), or $3500. This is the 'effective' tax rate.

Study

The local school district spends $4,413 per student. There are 21.5 students for each teacher in the school, 6200 students for each Librarian and 1378 students for each Counselor. 9.16% of the area’s population over the age of 25 with an Associate Degree or other 2-year college degree, 10.67% with a master’s degree, Ph.D. or other advanced college degree and 3.97% with high school diplomas or high school equivalency degrees (GEDs).